The Origins of The Second World War

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Summary: Pandering to Nazi sympathisers?
Review: 'The Origins of the Second World War' remains one of A. J. P. Taylor's most controversial works. Published barely sixteen years after the end of the second world war his thesis challenges the conventional view of history.

The main thrust of Taylor's book is that Hitler, the German Chancellor, did not plan the Second World War. Mr Taylor expands upon his main theme by explaining that war was caused by the failure of the league of Nations and that 'International anarchy' made war possible. He argues that Hitler's foreign policy was like that of his predecessors: to destroy the Versailles settlement and, by restoring the German army, make Germany the greatest power in Europe. He claims that Hitler never took the initiative but waited for others to do the work for him. Mr Taylor continues by suggesting that the idea of destroying Austria, probably never entered Hitler's head.

The Nuremberg war trials established, using the Hossbach Memorandum as key evidence, that Hitler had planned for the conquest of Europe through National Socialism. This was the accepted conclusion reached by most historians. It is, therefore, not surprising that Mr Taylor's book courts such controversy, his thesis disowns the conclusions reached at Nuremberg and thus challenges the validity of the moral judgements reached against the German defendants.

Taylor, with one small exception, fails to draw on Hitler's ideological and racist doctrine, and to suggest that he was in principle and doctrine no more wicked and unscrupulous than many other contemporary statesmen is misleading. The historian Trevor-Roper has gone as far as to suggest that Taylor was pandering to Nazi sympathisers. Taylor in second thoughts, the prelude to the 1963 edition of his book, treats this suggestion with the contempt that it deserves.

Taylor's argument is convincing on first inspection, however further examination reveals various contradictions and inaccuracies. However this in its self should not take away from the importance of Taylor's thesis. Taylor rightly questions the conventional view of the origins of the second world war, which was formulated at Nuremberg. The Nuremberg trials were concerned with judicial proof and not historical record. The method by which many of the documents were selected is criticised by Taylor, who attempts to show that the historical record might well be different to the conclusions reached at Nuremberg. In his attempt to discredit the conventional, he relies on a selection of documents which suit his narrative.

In trying to show a different interpretation of the facts, Taylor finds himself arguing that Hitler was no different from his predecessors, he wanted justice for Germany. Justice for Germany is one thing, but Taylor rejects the ideas that Hitler planned the war or indeed took the initiative. Although Taylor concedes that 'in wicked acts he [Hitler] out did them all', perhaps he is too lenient towards Hitler and under-plays his role in the origins of the second world war.

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Summary: An outstanding historical work
Review: A controversial book when first published in the early sixties, this is a convincing reassessment of the origins of the World War II, one which drew AJP Taylor immense criticism from some quarters.

The purpose of Taylor's book is simple, to examine the causes and chain of events which lead to the Second World War in an objective, analytical fashion. He relies on logic, reason and what solid documentary evidence there exists to present his case, which revolves around the argument that Adolf Hitler did not enter into war by virtue of a diabolical master plan but stumbled into it after one opportunistic gamble too many.

Taylor contends that the string of Hitler's peacetime successes, the re-militarization of the Rhineland, the Anschluss, Munich, the annexation of Memel on the Baltic, were not the result of calculated strategy but of fortuitous exploitation. Each of these crises came about as much from external events and pressures as from any manipulation on Hitler's part, who won through by using the threat of war and then allowing Britain, France and so forth to play into his hands and accede to German demands. The crunch however came with Poland. Despite coming under pressure from Britain to seek an accommodation with Hitler over the Danzig corridor, the Poles felt their perceived great power status and foreign alliances would act as a sufficient deterrent to Hitler.

This book then contains a solid intellectual argument. War broke out in 1939 by accident. Hitler may or may not have launched a premeditated war at a later date had his Danzig gamble succeeded, however the actual historical event known as the Second World War was not the result of a string of connected planned events. To back this up, Taylor casts into doubt the authenticity of the Hossbach memorandum, in which Hitler apparently clearly laid out his expansionist goals. Mein Kampf is dismissed as mere ideological ranting and not a blueprint for world domination, while Taylor also points to the absence of such things as detailed pre-war plans for German settlement in the east, and the rearmament schedule of the German high command, which insisted that war readiness would only be achieved by 1944 at the earliest.

Naturally, there is plenty room for debating Taylor's contentious thesis. Essentially I think it boils down to the extent to which Hitler acted premeditatedly in his own mind or to which he reacted to external events. For example, it is fairly clear that the outbreak of war provided Hitler with the excuse needed to solve the "Jewish question". Statements made by Hitler in 1939 hint at his intentions towards European Jewry and lend weight more towards a "master-plan" idea. Also, the Nazi's expansionist intent is not necessarily disproved by the lack of detailed plans or schedules. One must not forget the lack of such documentation regarding the Final Solution itself for example.

The brilliance of this book however is how it is able to honestly search for the how and the why. Historical events are caused by complex forces, political, economic, sociological and so forth, and the outbreak of the Second World War is no different. The Versailles settlement, in its harsh treatment of a defeated Germany, created sufficient enmity and chaos for extremist forces to gain the upper hand, aided by the Great Depression. The horrors of the First World War, in conjunction with American isolationism, and the unspoken feeling in many diplomatic circles that Germany had legitimate territorial grievances, led to pacifism and appeasement. To assign sole explanation for the war to an almost mystical notion of Hitler's individual evil, as is so often done, is misleading. This book is no whitewash of Nazi crimes or rehabilitation of Hitler. It is a brave historical work which seeks to provoke thought and debate.

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Summary: Great OBJECTIVE view of history!
Review: A must reading for anyone interested in history from an unbiased perspective. Answers those hidden questions that dwell in the back of the minds of all fans of history.

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Summary: The Leading Book For Understanding the Causes of WW 2.
Review: A.J. P. Taylor generated a lot of controversy with what he recorded here about the causes leading up to the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, and it's not because of some weakness in his personal conclusions. If you read it for yourself, you'll learn so much that you actually won't be dependent on anyone else's conclusions. The book is now a familiar topic to all World War Two historians, but it amazed them all the more because Taylor is considered by many to rank among the finest historians the Western World ever produced.

He points out that what most people have learned about the outbreak of WW2 isn't actually in serious error, but it skips over all the embarrassing controversies and gray areas. Those deficiencies leave politicians with very few insights about how they could avert future tragedies. It's also a dangerously simplistic view planted in the minds of millions by the power of modern media, but there's actually no one person, government, regime, or creed, that can be blamed for the ignorance, as much as we would like to believe that only the good guys (or bad guys) who rule dished the perspective out to us... Misconceptions about WW2 era need to be grappled with honestly, and this particular book is a good start...Modern sociologists and religious people are moving away from a blanket condemnation of any individual or nation, especially those which are no longer in existence, and the insights offered by Taylor apply intelligence and sensitivity to the history of our last century. It is among the finest literary contributions offered for a more peaceful world.

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Summary: A great work of scholarship by a master historian.
Review: Dubbed as a "revisionist history" when the book was first written, A.J.P. Taylor's scholarship has withstood the test of time and a fresh reading is testimony to his prophetic skills. Mr. Taylor's work demonstrates that there are no blacks and whites but only grays in the world of realpolitik. His work is both for the casual reader as well as for students of history. (Naushad Shafkat)

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Summary: Masterful Interpretation Of the Manifest Causes Of WWII!
Review: In what is often considered the most controversial of his many scholarly books, this exploration into the putative causes of World War Two by renowned British historian A.P.J. Taylor caused great controversy and discussion when published in the sixties. I remember as a college student the arguments regarding his scholarship, sympathies for Hitler, and somewhat simplistic approach in trying to mount an ardent and convincing argument demolishing the conventional wisdom holding that one man, Adolph Hitler, was uniquely responsible for the outbreak of the most horrific conflict in modern history. Amazingly, upon rereading this wonderfully written, entertaining, and erudite tome again recently, one walks away still impressed by his ability to marshal a wall of facts that seemingly support his incendiary ideas.

On the surface Taylor's general thesis that, given the poorly constructed and patently unfair peace treaty levied by the victorious allies onto Germany at Versailles, the war was inevitable is well-taken, as is his contention that many besides Hitler and the Nazis were responsible for the increased tensions and resort to force of arms in the 1930s both through acts of commission such as the peace treaty, and also through acts of omission, in particular referring to the failure of any of the allies to act responsibly and thoughtfully to the provocative acts of rearming Germany. Certainly the policies of appeasement, willful ignorance, and benign neglect of the international agreements so painfully wrought with the blood of millions of soldiers on the battlefields of France in WWI led to such a level of indifference and anarchy that it became an ideal environment for the incubation of the kinds of tyranny that arose in Italy, Germany, and Spain in those years. As Taylor points out, the fact of this indifference did much to sow the seeds of what would be reaped so painfully later.

Yet while any thoughtful student will heartily agree that the whole western world's blind indifference and acts of craven appeasement to the rising tides of murder and mayhem did much to encourage the excesses and bloody dreams of the Nazis, one finds it more difficult to excuse or ignore Hitler's own role in steering Germany toward confrontation and fatal conflict with all of its European neighbors. While one can argue that he never intended a war against England and France, that he misunderstood their resolve regarding Poland and the declaration of war against Germany, it is simply silly to argue that Hitler was somehow not directly responsible for the planning and execution of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union and the quite systematic murder of its people. Thus, while in arguing for the wider sharing of blame for the possibility of war existing Taylor does a marvelous job, he fails miserably in trying to explain the specifics of the war, since Hitler said all along the reason for the war was to establish an area of expansion for the German people, or "living room", in the wheat-belt of Russia called the Ukraine.

Hitler intended from the beginning to systematically exterminate all the indigenous people living in the Ukraine (and elsewhere in Russia) through a delberate campaign of murder, slave labor, and starvation. He considered the Russian people subhumans he would smash and exterminate. Similarly, the so called "Final Solution", while not necessarily the product of the kind of systematic planning many have attributed to it, was in the end a masterfully executed campaign of deliberate genocide against Jews, gypsies, and other non-Aryans. This is a fascinating book, and Taylor argues articulately for the idea that others besides Hitler deserve a portion of the blame for what unfolded into the largest conflict in the history of the world. His notion that one can more fully comprehend Hitler's actions when viewing them in the context of a poisonously dangerous world environment in which others failed to act humanely and responsibly is both sophisticated and well supported. Yet he oversimplifies certain aspects of the story, and seems to be overly sympathetic to Hitler and the National Socialists in doing so. This book is a wonderful read, and it is a pleasure to be in the presence of such a marvelous intellect, even if I do not agree with the overall thesis he is arguing for. Enjoy!

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Summary: Revisionism at its Best
Review: Ironically, socialist, anti-American, iconoclastic Professor Taylor, could be, at least in this work, the inspiration for the great David Irving's more pathbreaking work on an unneccesary and destructive war. It is demonstrated that Adolph Hitler, the popular Nationalist German leader, was no more responsible, and in many ways less so, than the so-called Allies, who foolishly guaranteed Poland, only to give her over to jewish Bolshevism at Yalta. By refusing to grant Germany's rightful place as a continental power, Britain and France lost millions of lives, their world empires, and their economic prominence. The sole beneficiaries of this needless conflict were the Soviets and their Western fellow travellers. And upon the final dissolution of the evil empire, courtesy of one Dutch Reagan, we have a European continent completely dominated by...Germany!

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Summary: The Pearl of Revisionism
Review: Taylor modifies totally the existing traditional view regarding the origins of the second world war which has considered Hitler as the sole creator of the conflict. Taylor doesnt defend the german Fuhrer nor simply condemns the commonly called "appeasers", but instead with a very original argument explains that the war originated due to the oportunism of Hitler added to the the shortsightedness and blunders of the french and british statesman.

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Summary: Taylor provides daunting perspective
Review: Taylor's account of the origins of the war is a fascinating dive into the twisted saga that was the Third Reich. Propounding the theory that Hitler was a master of patience who let the Appeasment-happy politicians of the West hand Czechoslovakia, Austria, and eventually Poland over to him, Taylor's arguments are compelling and definitive. While not detracting from the horrors of the Reich, it becomes clear that the political aspect of Hitler's empire was focused on getting the most he could while avoiding war, not planning for or encouraging it. The second edition contains Taylor's reply (in a forward) to the many critics and historians who debased the work as monstrous upon its initial publication, but like all the best of Taylor's work, it seeks only to dig for the truth, not an absolution of morality.

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Summary: Highly informative
Review: Taylor's contribution to the literature on the Second World Waris a must read. He exhaustively researched the diplomatic dealingsthat preceded the outbreak of war and provided a wealth ofinformation. He shows that neither was Hitler simply a raving,irrational madman, nor were the British, French and other leadersparagons of virtue and sterling defenders of democratic ideals. As inmost cases in history in which "high politics" are involved, thediplomatic dealings occuring on the eve of World War II show that itis difficult to clearly distinguish between the "good" and the"bad" - even when detestable ghouls like Hitler areinvolved. Another important aspect of Taylor's work here is to showhow much history is more than just a series of broad processes, butalso a matter of minute human interactions. Thus, one can only go sofar in explaining the Second World War in terms of socio-economicfactors (which were, to be sure, crucial) - one also has to look athow events are the result of actions taken by powerful leaders andtheir back-room dealings with each other. All in all, an excellent andvery illuminating book. END